The government of Tanzania on Sunday urged banks and other financial institutions in the east African nation to issue loans to artisanal miners to help them improve productivity.
Stanslaus Nyongo, the Deputy Minister for Minerals, made the appeal to the banks when he opened a meeting between the Tanzania Mining Commission and the CRDB Bank in the capital Dodoma. “Local artisanal miners have been repeatedly complaining over limited access to capital from local banks and other financial institutions,” Nyongo told the meeting.
The official said the mining sector has been growing steadily and that appropriate support to local artisanal miners by local banks will help realize the government’s effort to increase the contribution of the mining sector into the economy.
Latest government figures show that the mining sector grew by 17 percent in 2019, accounting to 5.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
“We want this sector to contribute to at least 10 percent of the GDP by 2025,” said Nyongo. Fred Mwamnyara, CRDB Bank manager of Special Desks, expressed the bank’s commitment to working with different partners to support the development of the mining sector in the country.
In the past five years, Tanzania has implemented various measures aimed at reviving its minerals sector, including reviewing mining laws and regulations and establishment of minerals trading centers to curb smuggling of minerals.
